1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic equipment such as a cellular phone which transmits and receives radio waves with high frequencies.
2. Description of the Related Art
Much effort has recently been made to provide electronic equipment such as cellular phone devices with multiple functions and reduced sizes. In connection with the reduction in the size of the electronic equipment, attempts have been made to use fuel cells as a power source. The fuel cell has the advantages of being able to generate power simply by being supplied with a fuel and an oxidizer and thus to continuously generate power simply by refueling. Consequently, fuel cells with successfully reduced sizes are very effective as a power source for the cellular phone device.
Thus, much attention has been paid to direct methanol fuel cells (hereinafter referred to as DMFCs) such as one disclosed in, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-106201. DMFC includes an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte membrane located between the anode and the cathode. Each of the anode and the cathode is made up of a power collector and a catalyst layer. A water solution of methanol is supplied, as a fuel, to the anode, which thus generates protons as a result of catalytic reaction. On the other hand, air is supplied to the cathode (air electrode) through an air intake. In the cathode, the protons having passed through the electrolyte membrane react, on the catalyst, with oxygen contained in supplied air, to generate power. As described above, DMFC uses methanol, having a high energy density, as a fuel to extract current directly from the methanol on the electrode catalyst. Furthermore, DMFC need not be modified. Thus, the size of DMFC can be reduced. Furthermore, this fuel can be handled more easily than a hydrogen gas. As a result, DMFC is a promising power source for the cellular phone device.
A good conductor such as a metal material is used, as a component, in many parts of the fuel cell including the power collectors of the anode and cathode. If such a fuel cell is used as a power source for the cellular phone device, the fuel cell may be located close to an antenna owing to a limited space inside the device. However, since the cellular phone device transmits and receives, for example, a radio wave with a high frequency band of 800 MHz to 3 GHz, the closeness, to the antenna, of the good conductors making up the parts of the fuel cell may disturb a radiation pattern of the antenna and increase a feeding point impedance. Thus, communication performance may disadvantageously be significantly degraded.